Martin Brundle shares why he felt sorry for Charles Leclerc despite ‘brilliant’ US Grand Prix win

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Ferrari will be wondering what’s possible for the rest of the season after an incredible United States Grand Prix.

Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz recorded Ferrari’s first one-two finish at the US Grand Prix since 2005 and were never under pressure from title challengers Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.

The two Ferrari drivers benefitted from starting on the second row of the grid when Verstappen and Norris pushed each other off the track going into the first corner.

Leclerc raced into the lead while Sainz had to bide his time behind Verstappen before undercutting him during the only round of pit stops.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Scuderia Ferrari from team principal to factory

The focus of the race then turned to who was going to join the Ferrari stars on the podium.

Verstappen ultimately joined them on the rostrum after Norris was controversially given a five-second time penalty for passing the Dutchman off the track and not giving the place back.

Leclerc and Sainz were able to review the incident from the comfort of the cooldown room knowing that they were too quick for either driver to be involved in such squabbles.

Martin Brundle and David Croft were covering the race for Sky Sports F1 and were full of praise for Leclerc at the end of the Grand Prix.

The Monegasque driver was simply superb and didn’t put a foot wrong, but Brundle admitted he felt bad for Leclerc as nobody watching the television broadcast got to witness his performance after achieving the eighth Grand Prix win of his career.

Leclerc failed to finish on the podium ahead of Norris in the Sprint Race, but more than made up for that disappointment on Sunday.

Why Martin Brundle felt ‘sorry’ for Charles Leclerc after winning the United States Grand Prix

As the race was coming to an end, Croft said: “While we’re talking fabulous drives [after watching George Russell overtake Sergio Perez], we’ve barely seen him for the second half of the race.

“What a race this has been from Charles Leclerc!”

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Brundle replied: “I feel sorry for Ferrari and Leclerc because we’ve barely noticed them or talked about them but a brilliant result.”

Leclerc’s race engineer then came on the team radio and said: “Well, that’s my boy! Another win, let’s go!”

Brundle continued: “Yeah, an absolutely sensational performance from Ferrari.”

Ferrari’s sacrifice led to their best result of the 2024 Formula 1 season

Nearly every team arrived in Austin with major updates on their car after the four-week break since the Singapore Grand Prix.

Both Red Bull and McLaren brought new parts, but Ferrari didn’t have any official updates on their cars for the race in Austin.

That will be particularly promising for team principal Frederic Vasseur who is beginning to build a team at Maranello that will be targeting world championships before Lewis Hamilton arrives.

Ferrari even made a sacrifice in their set-up that should have made them slower than their rivals, but it helped them execute the one-stop strategy needed to win the race.

Leclerc is expected to have an advantage over Hamilton when he arrives at Ferrari and his performance in Austin highlighted just how fast he is.

The Brit’s final run at the Circuit of the Americas with the Silver Arrows couldn’t have gone worse compared to his future teammate.